


The Things Desired

by Alice_saaad, yumocci



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Quirks (My Hero Academia), Angst, Badass NCT Ensemble, Dubious Morality, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Everyone Loves Lee Donghyuck | Haechan, F/M, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Lee Taeyong Are Siblings, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan is a Little Shit, Lee Taeyong is Reckless, Loyalty, M/M, Mafia NCT, Mark Lee (NCT) is Whipped, Mentioned EXO (EXO), Mentioned Super Junior, Moon Taeil is the Unbothered King, Rebellion, Secret Identity, Slow Build, Team as Family, Trauma, Vigilantism, and when I say slow I mean slow as hecc, but everyone loves him
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-01-02
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:46:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28408719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alice_saaad/pseuds/Alice_saaad, https://archiveofourown.org/users/yumocci/pseuds/yumocci
Summary: “One loves ultimately one's desires, not the things desired.”― Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and EvilDonghyuck was used to being left in the dark about important things in his life. He didn’t know what happened to his parents, their presence left only in form of faceless looming figures at the edge of his subconsciousness. He didn’t have a clue about his own quirk, his only source of knowledge being his instincts and sharp wit. He wasn’t even entirely certain what kind of person his own blood brother was and what exactly he did for a living.However, there was this single thing that he was completely, utterly sure of: he was not about to let anyone, be it his brother or God himself, ruin his perfectly tailored life plan.
Relationships: Dong Si Cheng | WinWin & Lee Taeyong, Huang Ren Jun & Lee Donghyuck & Lee Jeno & Mark Lee & Na Jaemin & Park Jisung & Zhong Chen Le, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun & Na Jaemin, Jung Yoonoh | Jaehyun & Suh Youngho | Johnny, Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung & Lee Taeyong, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Everyone, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan & Lee Taeyong, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Mark Lee & Nakamoto Yuta, Mark Lee & Suh Youngho | Johnny
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to this extremely messy NCT BNHA AU. 
> 
> 1) It's pretty obvious, but the NCT members were only an inspiration for the characters, they have nothing to do with them otherwise. 
> 
> 2) Please note that English is not our first language. Corrections and suggestions are more than welcome in the comments below. 
> 
> 3) Enjoy or whatever. ( ͡~ ͜ʖ ͡°)

Their dinner table was not, in fact, a table at all. It was an old rusty ironing board covered with a bright pink plastic tablecloth. It squeaked and croaked indignantly under the weight of plates, cups and Donghyuck’s elbows, till Doyoung swatted them away annoyedly.

It was a given that the dinner itself was a rather rowdy occurrence, considering that there were three relatively mature guys and a bratty teenager living in this apartment.

Doyoung was, of course, in charge of cooking. Had it been any other way and their lives would have been under a serious risk: Taeil and Ten in the kitchen were a true hazard for society.

“If you eat any more tomatoes of this salad before we all sit down, I’m going to exile you to the balcony,” Doyoung threatened, not even turning his head from where he was finishing up the noodles at the kitchen aisle. Donghyuck nearly choked on the piece of tomato that he was busy shoving into his mouth.

“Did you finally grow an eye at the back of your head, Doyoungie?” a voice from the top shelf of a bunk bed rasped. It was Ten – his socked leg swung down from the edge of the mattress as he struggled to extract himself from the pillow.

“Look who’s finally awake,” came Doyoung’s grumpy reply. “It hasn’t even been forty hours yet, are you sure you’re not sick?”

“Funny,” Ten deadpanned, sitting up in bed. His hair was a mess, sticking out in all possible directions. Noticing Donghyuck’s gaze, Ten peered down at him, his face splitting in a sleepy grin. “How’s it going, little one? Tired of kindergarten yet?”

“I see that your sense of humour ages together with you,” Hyuck snapped back, though there was no heat behind his words.

This silly banter continued until Taeil showed up at the door, smelling of the chilly winter air and clutching a bag in his hand.

“Am I right on time? Fascinating,” he grinned excitedly. Donghyuck launched at him with a battle cry and tackled him in a bone-crushing hug.

“From Sicheng,” Taeil explained as he handed Doyoung the package. “He said that this time he followed Taeyong’s recipe exactly, so it should have turned out pretty great”.

Donghyuck didn’t wince at the sound of his brother’s name. He didn’t even stop for a second before going right for the bag. His heart absolutely did not squeeze painfully in his chest as the dearly familiar smell of the cinnamon pastry filled his lungs.

The silence that followed did nothing to make him acknowledge his own feelings.

***

Donghyuck was an incredibly tactful and considerate boy, so, naturally, he waited till everyone had something to eat or to drink before announcing the news.

“So, I passed the exam for the hero program at the SM Academy,” he mentioned offhandedly, chewing on his chicken with vigour. “Thought that you guys might want to know”.

The reaction was every ounce as satisfying as expected: Doyoung choked on his disgusting tomato juice and struggled to regain his breath; Ten winced so hard that chopsticks with noodles fell from his weakened grasp and effectively stained the carpet. The only one who remained unbothered was, unsurprisingly, Taeil. He merely blinked up at Donghyuk from his bowl of rice, before smiling joyfully:

“Is that so? Good for you,” he pondered for a moment as if thinking if he should maybe add some more to his speech of encouragement. “You’ll do great if you keep your mouth shut most of the time, Hyuckie.”

“What?!” Doyoung came back to life with a piercing shout. Donghyuck winced – playing tricks on Doyoung was fun, but the aftermath was anything but. “When? Why? How in the hell did you get in? Who let you? I’m going to ground you, you brat.”

“Are you not going to let me go to high school?” Donghyuck smiled at him innocently, flaring his lashes dramatically. “Then I might just call up the child services. Or tattle on you to Sicheng, I don’t even know what’s worse.”

“You’re delusional,” Ten snorted, regaining his usual half-smirk. “Sicheng would just laugh at you and tell Doyoung to keep striving to make your life harder.”

“True,” Hyuck sighed wistfully, resting his chin in his palm. “Why does no one in this freaking family appreciate me? I’m going to cry now.”

“Oh, you definitely are” Doyoung hissed, yanking him up by the collar of his shirt with obviously harmful intentions.

“I’ve already got that you’re ang… ow!”

Ten and Taeil, of course, have found this outrageous violation of child rights delightful, laughing, hollering approvingly and filming as Doyoung mercilessly tugged at Donghyuck’s ears with all his might.

***

“I see that you’re alive,” Sicheng was quick to state before Donghyuck even had the chance to cross the threshold of the tiny coffee shop in the middle of nowhere. “That’s pretty unfortunate.”

One would not think that such words could come out of sweet little Sicheng’s mouth. His appearance did nothing to warn you about what you may hear: he was wearing a pink apron, layered on a fluffy sweater. His chestnut-coloured hair was artfully tousled as if he didn’t bother to style it after getting out of bed. Overall, he looked devastatingly cute and Donghyuck was not about to be silent about it.

“Aww!” he practically purred, smiling so wide that he felt the strain in his cheeks. In just four wide steps he managed to cross the room and swiftly entwined all his limbs around Sicheng’s unsuspecting figure.

Well, that was not exactly true. Sicheng very much suspected what was about to occur, but he didn’t see the point in trying to avoid the inevitable. Surprisingly enough, he didn’t offer any more of his scathing remarks and even placed a tentative hand on the back of Hyuck’s neck in an answering hug.

“You are as sweet as ever, hyung!” Donghyuck chirped excitedly, extracting himself from the careful embrace. Sicheng only scoffed in response, moving back to the wooden counter, where he was previously busy wiping the cups.

Donghyuck took his time to look around the room. It was perfectly familiar: from the cosy little tables made from light wood and fitting chairs with soft cushions to the way various plants seemed to completely rule over the space. It was nostalgically familiar, and yet ever so slightly different: gone were the paint marks on the staff door, as well as most of the plants that Donghyuck remembered from his childhood.

Donghyuck knew why he was here. He knew, and this painful awareness was crawling and itching under his skin. He felt alienated from the bubble of peace that enswathed this place like a fuzzy cloud. The gentle tinkling of utilities, the idle tune that fell from Sicheng’s lips, the mellow sunlight that came shining through the large windows – this world he was once a part of now felt distant, downing and stale. 

It would be stupid to assume that Sicheng didn’t feel his growing unease. After all, he was one of the few people who knew him way better than he ever did.

“Are you going to keep gawking around idiotically as if you didn’t grow up here?” Dong huffed with barely visible annoyance. He moved on to their considerable collection of various coffee machines and metallic cezves of all possible shapes and materials. Involuntarily, Donghyuck’s mind provided him with a memory, a bit crinkled and faded at the edges, of another pair of hands, gently caressing wooden handles and ceramic cups. He angrily shooed it away. “You can get on with what you need and then leave.”

“When did your Korean get so good? I bet it’s all Taeil’s influence.” Donghyuck’s cackled, throwing himself at one of the barstools. Unfortunately for him, Sicheng was right. He wouldn’t step inside here if there wasn’t something he needed. He decided it was time he ripped off the band-aid all at once.

“Can I… can I see him?”

Sicheng paused, looking at him with no preamble. It was an honest, painful gaze, one that Donghyuck couldn’t help but return with all pent-up frustration and grief.

“About damn time.” 

***

The face that greeted him, frighteningly pale against the midnight black sheets, was still as striking as ever. Cuttingly sharp angles and intriguingly soft curves melted together, creating an unmoving picture, frozen in the moment of beauty.

The room was well aired and obviously taken care of. Taeyong’s favourite plants and stuffed toys rested peacefully on the windowsills, blinds open to let the sunshine streaming inside.

Sicheng left without a sound. This painful reunion of brothers wasn’t any easier for him than it was for Donghyuck, after all.

“Well,” Donghyuck croaked, not surprised to find his throat raw and itchy. “Long time no see, I guess. I see that you’re still shamelessly sleeping. No consideration for your loved ones at all.”

Resounding silence was his only response. Donghyuck sat heavily on the chair by the bed and carefully touched Taeyong’s pale hand, laid open over the blanket. It was mockingly cold. In this moment of tearful weakness, it seemed to Donghyuck that the benign curve of his brother’s lips twitched in answer.

“I’m going to become a hero whether you like it or not,” He stated gravely after a while when there were no tears left to shed. “Although, I’m sure you knew about that way before me. Annoying, as always.”

The sun outside began to gain its full force. It was time to leave and get himself together.


	2. Chapter 2

Mornings do not start with coffee – nor do they start with anything remotely pleasant at all. That much became clear to teacher Do during his few years in the sphere of education.

It would be a lie to say that he hated his work. Quite the contrary: he was rather fond of his students and enjoyed guiding them through their journey to adulthood and dignity as heroes.

This was, probably, the only reason why he didn’t end up spitting right in the principal Kim’s face when he announced his brilliant decision:

“Kyungsoo-yah, you are a very bright lad, yes? Why don’t you take charge of this year’s entrance exam committee? Why do I even ask, of course, you will, ha-ha-ha!”

Do Kyungsoo, an active underground hero and a teacher in the best hero academy in the country hurried to retreat from the accursed office as the principal was busy wallowing in the feeling of self-content.

That was how he found himself in this particular situation: stuck in a room with three disgustingly loud individuals (granted, one of them was happily asleep), listlessly browsing through countless pages of student applications and hours of footage from the exam, without a drop of caffeine in his system. He wasn’t paid nearly enough to deal with this.

“I’m telling you; this Lee dude is totally Donghae-oppa’s son! Look at his squishy little face and adorable eye-smile! You know what, I don’t care about his parents, I’m adopting him immediately,” none other than Amber Liu cried violently, slamming her hand on the table.

“It’s the fifth one you’re adopting,” Baekhyun added fuel to the fire, glad to be distracted from work. “Playing favourites already?”

“Hell yeah!” Amber huffed, only partially joking. “A pretty face and a strong quirk already seal half the deal. The rest is only a technicality.”

Kyungsoo had had enough of this pointless discussion. Amber’s enthusiasm withered under his heavy glare.

“If you have so much energy, noona,” he started chilly. “then you can direct it at your task. I’m sure you can express your affections directly to Mr Lee’s face in case he gets in.”

“A-and Do Kyungsoo delivers his answering punch! Straight up knockdown, opponent unable to continue,” his fool of a colleague hollered, imitating the sounds of a trombone with his mouth. Needless to say, he was quite successful in his endeavours. Kyungsoo didn’t dignify his antics with so much as a glance. 

“Can’t even joke, jeez,” Amber pouted slightly. She got bored of acting hurt pretty quickly, so she promptly busied herself with disturbing a soundly sleeping Chanyeol. 

This exam session turned out to be disappointing so far. No one stood out in particular – Kyungsoo could count on one hand all the promising candidates out of hundreds upon hundreds.

“Let’s see,” Baekhyun chirped excitedly. “Lee Donghyuck. Huh… Look, Soo-yah! That’s something odd for sure.”

The teacher was about to dismiss his friend’s shenanigans, rightfully thinking that he was yet again trying to pull his leg. The folder that Baekhyun slid across the table, however, effectively grasped his attention.

_Lee Donghyuck, 15 years old,_ the profile read. A tiny photo at the edge of the page depicted an average teenager, if only with an overly sweet facial expression. What attracted examiner’s attention, though, was the quirk field:

_Quirk: NPC. (for boomers: non-player character)._

_Details: The Ultimate Boss. Basically, the coolest dude you’ll ever meet._

“Is this guy a joke?” Kyungsoo muttered under his breath, instantly searching for the footage.

The screen soon showed the kid in question. He was standing a bit further from the crowd, separating himself from the excited bustling of students. However, if this Lee Donghyuck guy was aiming to go unnoticed, he was failing at it miserably: the colour of his clothes was so stridently neon that every student and supervisor made it their job to glance at him judgingly once in a while.

“Oh my, what a clown,” Baekhyun observed smartly as he moved closer to the screen. “He’s totally my style!”

Things got only stranger from there: once the starting honk resounded through the concrete vastness of the fake city and all the students scurried inside, the teen didn’t show any signs of hurry or impatience. He strode down the fake street calmy with a slight skip to his step.

The first robot he encountered was a one-pointer. Despite its rather modest size, the device seemed pretty adamant on eliminating everything in sight. Lee Donghyuck stopped in front of it with an unfittingly overjoyed expression on his youthful face but did nothing to protect himself from the approaching danger. Kyungsoo fought the urge to squeeze his eyes shut.

Apparently, this was only the beginning of an unending string of surprises.

“Oh shit!” Amber managed to sum up their collective reaction to what unfolded right before their eyes a second later.

A huge chunk of concrete broke off the nearby building and came crashing down on a poor robot with a terrifying smash. The cameras blacked out for a moment, shocked by the deadly force. Kyungsoo needed to remind himself that this was merely a recording, and no one was in danger anymore.

Soon enough, the dust clouds dissipated considerably, allowing them to witness a totally unharmed Lee Donghyuck situated neatly on top of the collapsed fragment.

“What a frightening coincidence,” Do grumbled unhappily.

It was not, in fact, a coincidence.

By the end of this stressful meeting, Kyungsoo was half-convinced that this absolutely horrifying freshman was one of the main reasons why principal Kim made him do this on his legal day off. It went without saying that Lee Donghyuck made it to Kyungsoo’s 1-A class.

***

It was an oddly disorienting feeling to step back into the flow of time after nearly forgetting its gravity on his skin. Sicheng’s quirk always had this specific effect on people – it wasn’t nauseating per se but left a prominent sinking sensation in one’s stomach.

Donghyuck didn’t stay long after leaving his brother’s unmoving figure behind. Sensing his darkened mood, Sicheng wordlessly handed him a pack of fresh-baked cookies and sent him off with a firm nod. Donghyuck was so grateful he could cry – but he couldn’t afford to break down for the second time in one day, so he limited with a tight hug and a shaky farewell smile.

The streets of Seoul greeted him with a biting winter frost. It was snowing steadily; glancing up, Donghyuck felt like a tiny figurine stuck in a snow globe.

The roads got busier and busier as he got closer to the business centre of the district. By the time he reached the main intersection, it was already bustling with life.

Jumping on the road in front of a car was not exactly how Donghyuck pictured his noon will go, but, oh well – he was no stranger to having this bothersome lady by the name ‘life’ meddle in his plans. It was as if the time had slowed down for a few moments: Donghyuck observed plainly as the guy beside him, absorbed in his phone, stepped on the road distractedly, not noticing the rapidly moving cars in the slightest.

There wasn’t even a driblet of hesitation as Donghyuck threw himself forward with unseen-before force. He crashed into the stranger, pinning him to the cold ground with his own body and bracing himself for the impact. As he had come to expect over the course of his life, nothing came their way: the car that threatened to leave them solely a bloodstain on the pavement came to a screeching halt as its engine run out of fuel.

“You’re lucky I could afford nearly getting hit by a car, you dumbass blind pig,” Donghyuck hissed venomously, getting comfortable atop the boy’s chest. “Full offence, by the way.”

The guy made no move to get out of this compromising position, seemingly in shock. As a frantic uproar of urgent voices surrounded them, Donghyuck finally took a good look on his face. Admittedly, it was easy for the eyes: with big round orbs and chiselled sharp cheekbones.

The absurdity of the situation dawned on Donghyuck as he sat upon his knees, so he cracked a dry smile.

“Did nobody teach you it’s impolite to stare? Honestly, youth these days,” he shook his head in mock disapproval, getting up without much difficulty. He brushed off the by-passers’ concerns. “I’m fine, thank you. No need for the ambulance! Yes, I’m sure. Better check on this guy, he seems out of it.”

As he made his way through the crowd to finally get home, it seemed like a good idea to him to turn around one last time.

“Bye, sweetheart!” he waved enthusiastically at the unlucky stranger with an excessively saccharine smile. “Try not to die out there! I might not always be there to save you!”

The answering flabbergasted expression was absolutely worth the effort.

***

Much to his relief, Donghyuck managed to get home without any more trouble. Judging by the lack of other pairs shoes in the hallway, only Ten was home, which was not uncommon at all.

“Oh, there you are!” came Ten’s delighted greeting. “Your timing is impeccable. Here, take this mop.”

Donghyuck barely had time to remove his outwear before getting thrown headfirst into the household chores. He knew better than to try and argue with Ten: it was always more trouble than it was worth. With a sigh and a low grumble, he got to work.

“You’re abusing your age privileges a bit too much,” still, he couldn’t help but throw in a little grumpy remark as Ten sprawled himself happily on the sofa. He was in a clearly good mood today: his cat attributes were at full display, the shiny black ears twitching contently and the tail swinging rhythmically.

“Uh-uh, don’t want to hear it. I’ve struggled enough today. Do you want Doyoung to nag us into oblivion? Me neither, so.”

Donghyuck could think of a thousand witty objections but ultimately decided against it. He took his time to wring the mop out of redundant water. Treacherous candidness danced atop of his lips.

“So, I went to see _him_ today,” Hyuck started smoothly, dejectedly wiping the floor. “Got Sicheng’s cookies. He’s gotten even better at backing, can you imagine? Then pushed some dumbass out of the car’s way. Got a scratch on my hand, see?” he demonstrated his injury dramatically.

“Tragic,” Ten snorted but didn’t offer any more commentary, content to just listen for now. This was partially why Donghyuck felt so comfortable talking to him. Not that he was ever going to admit that aloud.

With formalities out of the way, Donghyuck got to the heart of the problem:

“Say, do you really have nothing against me going to the hero school? Isn’t that… risky for you guys? I honestly expected you to try and stop me.”

Ten levelled him with an unreadable stare.

“So that’s what was eating you away for the last few days,” he snorted at last, but then his tone suddenly grew serious. “Listen, have we ever stopped you from doing something you really wanted to? I don’t think so. Maybe this isn’t what Taeil-hyung, Doyoungie and I wanted for you, but you are your own person. If that’s what you’d like to do, who are we to rip it away from you? Don’t be stupid.”

Donghyuck felt his chest swell with fondness. He hurried to escape to the kitchen with a half-hearted retort: the conversation rapidly took a heart-wrenching turn. 

“So, did you meet any cute boys and girls at the exam?” Ten shouted from the living room, ever so quick to understand when emotions got a little too much.

“Curiosity killed the cat!” Donghyuck called back with a peel of bright laughter.

“Hey! That’s borderline offensive! Watch your words, brat.”

As Hyuck laughed his sorrows away and popped back in the living room just to stick his tongue out in an extremely grown-up manner, the start of the school year was approaching unforgivingly. Time didn’t wait for anyone, after all.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! thanks for 127 hits :D 
> 
> I wonder if I'm clear enough in describing the characters' quirks? 
> 
> the list of mentioned quirks:
> 
> Ten - "Werecat", can turn into a black cat (either partially or completely), can vary the size of his final form.   
> Donghyuck - "NPC", abilities TBA.   
> Sicheng - "Rip in space-time", can control the space around him, create sub-spaces isolated from reality.
> 
> have a nice reading :)

Doyoung had taken the news of Taeyong’s poor health condition the worst out of them all.

He had always been like that – a tight string threatening to snap any time; a bleeding wound that never quite dried up and healed.

The first month had seemed to be a twisted implementation of Donghyuck’s worst nightmares. Doyoung had thrown himself into work, spending nights upon nights without getting a blink of sleep. More than once Sicheng had called them, voice gravely with distress, and begged for Taeil to come and pick Doyoung up from the coffeeshop. Apparently, Doyoung had been determined to spend his every free waking moment by Taeyong’s side, cherishing his barely-there breath. Donghyuck had always thought that it was a little terrifying - the way Doyoung’s entire carefully measured system of living seemed to crumble to dust every time Taeyong’s wellbeing was in danger.

It had got easier from there. Once Doyoung had been deemed presentable enough to re-join the society, Ten had even afforded to joke about it (in Doyoung’s absence, of course, merely because his tail might have been pulled mercilessly):

“That’s what happens when you get involved with pretty boys,” Ten had shared his wisdom generously from under a rusty looking car in their garage. “They never do you any good. If you happen to meet one when you’re in a vulnerable state of mind, you’re done for. Do you see the way Doyoung is fully wrapped around Taeyong-hyung’s little finger? Absolutely disgusting.”

Donghyuck had chuckled then, swallowing the nauseating lump in his throat that had appeared every time he had been reminded of his brother’s condition.

“So, you’re saying you weren’t vulnerable when you met him? Seems pretty unlikely to me, you were a super angsty teenager.”

Ten had been dramatic enough to stick his black-smeared face out just to regard him with a smug expression.

“The thing is that I’m also pretty. So, between Taeyong-hyung and me, we neutralise each other. You get it?”

“Whatever,” Donghyuck had snorted. “But I’m telling Doyoung-hyung that you think he’s ugly!”

“Get back here, brat!”

The Earth had not ceased to revolve around the Sun when his brother had fallen into a coma, nor had the time stopped flowing, although Doyoung had certainly thought it should have had. Their little mismatched family had been compelled to work on the new ways of co-existing and tiptoeing around the huge gaping hole left by Taeyong’s absence.

Taeil had rarely been home anymore; he had scheduled so many meetings with partners and potential investors that he barely had had the time to eat and smother Sicheng with affection, which had been extremely worrying. Doyoung had developed a frightening devotion to honing his cooking skills and had seemingly made it his ultimate objective to feed Donghyuck to death. Hyuck hadn’t been privy to the details of Doyoung’s work as one of the most fearsome attorneys in the country but judging by the rising number of the news articles about his absolute supremacy, borderline tyranny in court, he had powered up in that department as well. Ten had remained the only drop of normality in Donghyuck’s life: he had been as annoying and sarcastic as ever, tinkering with his indefinable inventions either at home or in their dusty garage. The only noticeable difference in him had been a little more forlorn and withdrawn disposition than usual.

Donghyuck himself had never felt so conflicted and lost in his fourteen (at the time) years of life. Suddenly there had been no more smouldering warmth in his chest; the feeling of assurance and safety that his brother had been providing everyone with was threatening to extinguish. In that regard, his conversation with one of his two only peer friends had been illuminating:

“That’s really freaking sad,” Chenle had concluded resolutely, perching his ridiculously expensive cup atop of the equally as sumptuous table of ebony. “So, what are you gonna do? Sit on your butt and mope about?”

“If I knew the answer to this question, I wouldn’t sit here drinking this weird shit,” Donghyuck had shaken his own cup with something that tasted remotely like green tea.

“Thanks, it’s my mom’s recipe,” Chenle had replied breezily, taking pleasure in the way Donghyuck had chocked. “But for real, why don’t you go to a hero school? You were always upset that your brothers never let you in on any of the serious stuff. Having a hero licence would open a lot of doors for you, no?” 

The thought had hit Donghyuck like a brick. Back then, he had squeezed Chenle in a hug so tight that it had left the younger boy gasping for air. And now he was standing in front of the gates to SM Academy, the dream school of any hero-wannabe in Asia, his acceptance letter clutched tightly in his hand.

A lazy smirk grazed his lips.

“I’m going to eat this shit up.”

***

Na Jaemin did not think that the moment when he went to high school would ever come. Or, more likely, he was quite sure he would die tragically and ingloriously way before that. Yet here he was, hunched over a desk in the 1-A class in one of the best hero schools in the world. What an unexpected development, he would say.

Jaemin could hear very clearly the hushed whispers of his new classmates. This low buzzing followed him wherever he went – the unavoidable white noise, the necessary evil.

“Is this the rumoured Jung Jaehyun’s cousin? No wonder he’s in 1-A. It’s probably nice having his daddy pay for the exam.”

“Is his hair fucking pink? What a weirdo.”

“That’s one pretty face, alright. We’ll have to wait and see if he’s any match for his stellar cousin, though, ha-ha.”

Jaemin struggled to tune it out. He rested his head on his forearms heavily. Despite having dealt with this all his life routinely, he still felt sick in the stomach. He wondered vacantly when will the teacher show up, so he could finally get it over with and go home.

The door flew open with an aggressively hollow thud. It was enough to draw Jaemin out of his boredom-induced slumber. He blinked once, twice – and then once more, just to check if his eyes were deceiving him. Inside stepped a person he was intimately familiar with.

Lee Jeno seemed to catch him staring immediately. He paused on the threshold awkwardly, smiling with visible uncertainty. He was still as upsettingly handsome as Jaemin remembered him from the last fundraising event that they were forced to attend, even more so in his new and crisp school uniform. Jaemin didn’t think that this day could get any worse, but, apparently, it did.

“Get the fuck out of my way, Mr I-don’t-know-basic-etiquette,” a distinctively sounding voice chirped benevolently from behind Jeno’s broad back. The teen hurried to retreat to the nearest unoccupied desk with an embarrassed cough. Students’ attention landed right at the person behind him.

It turned out to be a rather sweet looking guy with his dark hair styled prettily to frame his smiling face. His expression of precisely measured delight absolutely did not match with the elaborate insult that had come out of his mouth a second earlier.

He seemed unperturbed by the scrutiny. He looked around leisurely, finally finding a desk up to his liking. Of course, according to all the laws of the universe, this desk turned out to be the one right in front of Jaemin.

The guy dutifully sat his cute little bag in form of a teddy bear on the desk. After getting comfortable in his new seat, he turned his head in Jaemin’s direction abruptly, startling him out of his unhappy thoughts.

“Hi there, my name is Lee Donghyuck,” he didn’t stick out his hand in greeting, nor was he seemingly interested in Jaemin’s persona at all. “I see you’re down in the dumps. So, what gives?” 

Jaemin hid his surprise well and regarded him with a cold glare.

“Na Jaemin,” he nodded reluctantly, “I am not down in the dumps, whatever that means. Anyways, why would I tell you anything? Mind your own business, Mr I-curse-at-strangers.”

Jaemin regretted his answering retort as soon as it came out of his mouth, because Lee Donghyuck’s smile turned positively feral.

“Oh?” he drawled, resting his squishy-looking cheek in his palm, “I have a feeling we will get on. Prepare yourself, Na Jaemin.”

Jaemin couldn’t identify this feeling yet, but his lips quirked up unwittingly in a responding smirk.

“We’ll see about that.”


End file.
